


I Believe in You

by Kira_Dattei



Series: Developing Relationship Kinktober 2018 [14]
Category: No. 6 - All Media Types
Genre: AO3 FB Challenge, Canon - Anime, Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, M/M, Nezumi Cares About Shion, Post-Canon, Shion Cares Too Much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 22:19:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16292846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei
Summary: Shion keeps working at the pace he did when Nezumi was gone. Nezumi won't let him.





	I Believe in You

**Author's Note:**

> And we're back to these guys for Day 14.

The longer Nezumi was living in what had been the West District – mostly renovated with actually decent living conditions and succeeding in its inhabitants accepting one another, no matter where they lived before the wall fell – the more he was convinced Shion was going to literally work himself to death.

It had taken him a while to see it. The first month had been him settling in and getting a feel for this new city and the people, reacquainting with Shion, and getting to know Karan. The second month he’d been distracted by finally getting to enjoy Shion in every way he wanted. This was the first time he had slept with the same person more than once – even though he hadn’t slept with many people because of his trust issues – and Shion had been as much of a virgin as anyone could be, topped off by being a bit on the naïve side still. And their relationship had been about eight years in the making so he though he was hardly to blame for getting caught up in the little things.

He wasn’t really a tactile person – again, trust issues – but damn if he didn’t love having his hands on Shion. Whether it was sex, running his hands along the line of Shion’s scarring to feel the slight difference in texture, curling his fingers in white hair that was getting almost long enough to be tied back, or just holding Shion against him while he slept, he was constantly touching the other man. He didn’t know if it was making up for years apart and if it would fade as they stayed together, but Nezumi doubted it: he could get obsessive and was very possessive and protective of Shion. Besides, he’d always been more willing to touch Shion than anyone else.

He was also going on day four without seeing Shion, which was why he was getting the chance to consider things he’d been overlooking. Whenever they were in each other’s lives, they didn’t go this long without seeing each other.

They didn’t live together again. Shion had a place in No. 6 close to where he worked. It was an apartment building that had a bit more technology installed throughout, like the home he’d lived in until he’d lost his elite status. He said he needed that for the work he’d been doing over the past few years. It was why Nezumi hadn’t brought up, even in the most passive manner, the subject of them living together again.

And Nezumi felt he’d needed a bit more time to make sure he’d really put his hatred of No. 6 in the past along with everyone who had been responsible for how it had become so corrupt, all of whom were dead.

He felt he was successful enough thin that to take another step forward, but was now being stone-walled by Shion’s goddamn job.

Shion was doing important work, Nezumi understood. He was a leading figure in countless aspects of the rebuilding of No. 6. He was doing everything he could to ensure it was truly a place of peace and equality. He was actually succeeding in creating a brand new world where a corrupt one had been. Sure, it was only possible because so many on both sides of the wall had died that day, removing the most extreme of either side and leaving people mostly just relieved to be alive and latching on to someone who seemed capable of helping them stay that way, but it was still an accomplishment Shion could be proud of any day.

And people looked up to and relied on Shion for his steadfast belief that everyone deserved to be treated as human, as equals. It meant that Shion had become something of an icon for the people of No. 6.

But didn’t anyone besides Nezumi know that putting that kind of expectation on Shion was dangerous for his health? Because if he felt something was expected of him, he would put in all his effort to see it through to completion of the highest quality. He didn’t know how to hold back, even as he was on the brink of collapse.

Shion reaching for him as blood started staining his shirt from the gunshot came to Nezumi’s mind and he flinched at the memory.

He knew what it felt like to lose Shion, even if only for a moment and that was enough.

Fuck it, he was going to see Shion. He didn’t give a damn what he was doing.

Nearly an hour later, because it took him that long to get to Shion’s apartment, he walked up to his…whatever-the-hell-they-were’s door. He didn’t have a key, then he remembered who he was dealing with and so he tried the handle, half-expecting it to be unlocked whether or not Shion was there. The door was locked, though, and so he pulled out his lockpicks and went to work breaking in to Shion’s home.

He was a little out of practice, so it took him a few mistakes more than he usually made, but he managed to release the lock and he stepped into the apartment, closing the door and locking it behind him. He glanced to the side to see Shion’s shoes tucked away to at least he was home.

That was a relief, because Nezumi didn’t feel like tracking down Shion at his office. He would do it – he knew where Shion worked and people could be ridiculously helpful when he put on the charm – but with Shion home, Nezumi could be a bit more insistent on removing him from whatever project had his attention. He could get him into somewhere comfortable right off the bat and he remembered that once Shion relaxed, everything seemed to catch up with him and he didn’t move for hours.

Nezumi worked off his own shoes, recalling that Shion still preferred habits born of growing up in comfort, so he didn’t wear shoes. He had most of the time when living with Nezumi for the sake of adjusting to harsher environments, but he’d never preferred it, often curling up on the couch under a blanket so he could remove his shoes all the sooner.

He listened for movement, hearing Shion back in his office typing on one of his computers. He moved that way, the detoured to the kitchen and grabbed a snack bar out of one of the cabinets, figuring food would be a good enough place to start with Shion.

He walked down the hall, passing by Shion’s room and glancing in to see much more of a mess than he usually had in his living area. Piles of clothes and stacks of documents were spread throughout the room, even on the bed and Nezumi wondered if he had even slept in his bed for the past few days.

Just what was Shion working on?

He continued to the end of the hall and turned to the left into the office. Shion was facing toward the door and he proved that he had at least learned something in the time they’d lived together by that position and proved even more by looking up once Nezumi came into view, actually paying attention to movement.

That or he hadn’t been very absorbed in what he was doing, which would be weird.

“Nezumi?” Shion was surprised and he stood up from his desk. “What are you doing here? Wait, how did you get in? I’m pretty sure the door was locked that the windows aren’t accessible from the outside.”

“Yeah, your apartment is irritatingly difficult to get into if not by the door,” Nezumi mused. It was another reason he got Shion to go to his place more often. “But the door was only locked. You think that’s too much for me to deal with?”

Shion sighed and looked at little defeated. Nezumi was getting more convinced he’d made the right choice by the minute. Because Shion hadn’t looked so tired, bags under his eyes, his hair disheveled, his skin paler that normal, since the days he was recovering from his exposure to the parasitic bee.

Nezumi walked across the room, came around the corner of the desk and pushed the bar into Shion’s hands, the other man taking it reflexively, then looked down at it in confusion.

“You haven’t kept up eating, have you?” he said a little defensively to cover his concern. Then he looked at the computer screen and figured out why Shion had gotten so caught up: it was a map of No. 6 and its surrounding area and the location of where the correctional facility had been was highlighted.

So they were figuring out what to do with a place that threw the mistakes of No. 6 in their face.

Nezumi wasn’t sure what to think about that, especially since there was more than a reminder of mistakes in that place for Shion and they were making him look at it.

He looked back over to Shion, who was looking between Nezumi and the screen before sitting down when he caught Nezumi’s expression. “I’m not sure what to do. There are about five different proposals of what to do with the area and I don’t know which one is right,” he said by way of explanation. He tossed the bar onto the desk and combed his fingers roughly through his hair, then pinched the bridge of his nose.

Nezumi frowned at the vulnerability on display, unsure of what he was supposed to do about it. Shion hadn’t asked for help, but he felt like he should try anyway. It just sucked that he wasn’t so great at helping people, not even Shion.

“You’re the one that has to choose?” he asked to buy himself some time.

“They are insistent that I submit what I consider to be the best option, considering my history with what happened there. I’m supposed to go survey the area in a few days and then submit my answer for the plan I support pursuing. I just…don’t want to go back there. It doesn’t matter how long ago it was, it hurts.”

Shion made it look so easy to talk about the difficult topics, as always. He didn’t protect what mattered most, making Nezumi more determined to be the one to do it for him.

“Yeah, well maybe if you actually took a break, you’d figure it out. You’re such an idiot when rested, what makes you think you’d be better off sleep=deprived?” Shion looked like he wanted to object but couldn’t figure out what to say. Again, another indication that he really wasn’t in great shape. “You’re done for the night. I haven’t seen you in four days and the times before that barely count for how little we actually did when we were together. We’re going over to you mom’s for dinner and then you’re spending the night with me to ensure you leave work alone.”

“Nezumi, I can’t just leave it like this. This is important.”

“So are you.” Nezumi really had to concentrate to not show any indication that that was probably one of the most embarrassing things he’d actually said to Shion.

And Shion’s reaction helped, the other man stunned silent.

Oh well, he might as well really get Shion to listen and give a few more of his sentimental lines that he usually barely gave any thought to.

“You’ll figure out what to do. You’ve got quite the reputation for that. But, more than that, I believe in you. You’ve proven me wrong, taught me how people can be when you give them a chance, and made me want to change. Deciding what to do with that land will be a piece of cake in comparison once you realize how easy it is compared to what you’ve already accomplished. Now, get your stuff together so we can head to your mom’s.”

Shion stared at him for a few seconds before he shook his head a little and stood up in a rush, then brought himself to his full height so he could give Nezumi a kiss.

And as if to prove he was still as inexperienced as ever, he just stayed pressed there until Nezumi took the hint and opened his mouth to delve his tongue into Shion’s mouth.

It usually still took Shion to be deep in the passion of sex to not need Nezumi to take the initiative on everything. Figures that this would be where he had a wider learning curve.

Shion accepted his kissing for quite a while long than he normally did, to the point that Nezumi was getting effectively into in and was just about ready to take things to the bedroom, but then he eased off and Nezumi let him. Shion wrapped his arms around Nezumi’s waist in a tight embrace, which Nezumi slowly returned.

He really needed Shion to say something soon, H was being a bit too erratic.

“Thanks, Nezumi,” Shion finally said, his voice muffled by Nezumi’s shirt.

Nezumi rolled his eyes as he started working some of the knots out of Shion’s hair. “I’m not going through this again so you better have gotten the message. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just moved back to the West District. I think living in here with all the No. 6 technology is making you regress.”

He only regretted blurting that out a little and not more because Shion appeared to have missed the implication as he pulled away and went to his computer, but was shutting everything down so Nezumi left him alone.

“Maybe soon, but I still need to have a better connection to the office than the West District allows. We’re so close and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“If you moving ruins it, you didn’t do it right. But since I know you better than that, I say you need to give your work more credit than that.” Nezumi could afford to be selfish when Shion was missing part of his point.

After all, he missed living with Shion and it was becoming more apparent the longer they were together again. He was willing to stack the deck in his favor as long as he could get away with it. And if Shion did figure him out, then he would likely just get all sentimental about Nezumi wanting him around. Win-win.

“I got it. I worry too much. I don’t handle things well when stressed. I’m an idiot. You know better than me. The usual.” Shion rambled off things Nezumi had said plenty.

“Good, you do listen. Now, let’s go or I’m dragging you out and stealing your keys so you have no choice but to not come back until I say you can.”

“Just because you only have one point of entry doesn’t mean I don’t have a back-up plan.”

Shion was completely serious and Nezumi was left silent as he followed Shion to his room so he could change into clean clothes, there being no way of saying how long he’d been working in the clothes he usually wore around the house.

Maybe Shion really had learned more that he thought from his time in the Real World.

Nezumi might just have fallen a little bit more in that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm having a blast with these guys. The next day planned to be back to this fandom will be on the 17th.  
> Thank you so much for reading. Hope you enjoyed. See ya next time.


End file.
